Abe-Ani’s Army

By: Tony LoiseleurAug 19, 2009

From the cozy confines of the Abe-Ani Combat Club, on the top floor
of Gold’s Gym South Tokyo Annex in Tokyo’s Ota ward, Hiroyuki Abe
and company are busy at work raising a formidable -- albeit
adorable -- army of little grapplers, ages 4 to 14.

It is truly a thing of wonder to have a 5-year-old shoot in on you
for a double-leg takedown, and then doggedly switch to dragging you
down with the single when you prove too heavy. The next surprise
comes when scrambling to all fours, said 5-year-old quickly breaks
you down limb by limb until it’s easier to roll you for the
pin.

That a majority of these youngsters have honed these particular
skills to the point of reflexivity, regardless of their opponent’s
size or age, speaks to the fact that Abe has successfully bred
Japan’s next generation of wrestlers, some of whom are already
national champions looking to take over the combat sports world in
just a few years.

Ryu And Teppei, Japan’s fighters of
tomorrow

Notable of these many children is Ryuto Sawada, who at age 14 takes
on the unspoken role of the team captain under Abe-sensei. A gold
medalist in Japan’s national children’s wrestling competitions, the
young Ryu looks forward to expanding beyond wrestling in
adulthood.

Daniel Herbertson/Sherdog.com

Sakuraba inspired Ryuto
Sawada.

“I started wrestling at age four. Around the same
time, I saw MMA,” recounts the shy Ryuto of his formative first
impression of the sport, and how it pushed him toward wrestling.
“It was when I saw [Kazushi] Sakuraba versus Royce Gracie in
Pride. It was then that I decided I wanted to do MMA someday.”

As with any proper aspiring mixed martial artist, Ryu has since
diversified his training to include disciplines beyond
wrestling.

“I do jiu-jitsu and no-gi grappling with the adults too, which I
started when I was in second grade,” he says. “I started wrestling
at another school, but I started jiu-jitsu here at AACC.”

Naturally, Ryu is not alone in his extra-curricular training
pursuits. Often joining him in AACC’s adult jiu-jitsu and no-gi
grappling classes are his sister Chihiro and Teppei Jin, both age
12.

With nine years and a green belt in judo under him, Teppei only
recently began training in wrestling, coming into the sport thanks
to the Beijing Olympics.

“I saw wrestling in the last Olympics on TV and I thought it looked
fun, so I decided to start. I stopped judo since I joined AACC to
do wrestling, jiu-jitsu, and striking,” explains the 12-year-old
Teppei, who cites two-time Olympic gold medalist Saori Yoshida as
the freestyle wrestler he most looks up to -- primarily because
“she has a winning streak.”

With Tokyo one of the prospective candidates to hold the 2016
Summer Olympics -- a distinction the city last had in 1964 --
Teppei looks forward to seeing his wrestling career culminate by
representing his country in the coming Olympiad.

Daniel Herbertson/Sherdog.com

Teppei Jin only has eyes for
MMA.

Ryu, however, is less interested in chasing Olympic gold.

“I actually have no interest in the Olympics, so I don’t want to be
in it. I’d rather fight MMA,” admits Ryu, who in addition to an MMA
career, seeks competitive grappling laurels in both ADCC and the
Mundials.

Despite differing views on the Olympics, the end-goal remains the
same for Ryu and Teppei in that both are striving to become mixed
martial artists. An avid MMA fan who watches fights on both sides
of the Pacific, Ryu wants to someday debut in Dream.

When asked about fighting in the states however, Ryu admits, “Well,
I don’t want to debut in the UFC, but I want to fight there
eventually, after I fight in Dream.”

Teppei, on the other hand, has eyes only for the cage, and is eager
to one day fight in the UFC.

“I like the UFC. [The cage] is more real and exciting than a
regular ring. The ring is maybe better for an audience, but seeing
a fight in a cage makes it feel contained and enclosed,” he says.